New Delhi, November 14
On the occasion of Children’s Day today and close on the heels of the World Bank slamming India for failing to reduce malnutrition despite its economic powerhouse status, the government said it would soon launch two more schemes to improve the health status of adolescent girls and mothers.

If rolled, the “Rajiv Gandhi Sabla Scheme” and the “Indira Gandhi Matritva Scheme” would be additions to the eight government schemes already in place to fight undernourishment among children aged 0 to six years and pregnant women.

These eight schemes include Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS), Midday Meal Scheme, Targetted PDS Scheme, National Maternity Benefit Scheme, Antodaya, Annapurna and National Old Age Pension Scheme and are closely monitored by the Supreme Court under the Right to Food verdict.

Admitting to delivery lapses, the Planning Commission today said it would, during the ongoing mid-term review for the 11th Plan, take a candid view of how the government was performing. “The issue of missed nutrition targets is very vexing and must be urgently addressed, said commission member Saeeda Hamid.

But the government, represented by Women and Child Development minister Krishna Tirath, was silent today on why targets were being missed. The minister in fact announced the launch of two more schemes with an allocation of Rs 4500 crore, saying new interventions were important-this despite the Prime Minister’s 2007 observation on the lapses in ICDS. “There is strong evidence that the ICDS has not led to any substantial improvement in the nutritional status of children under 6. The coverage is also a matter of concern,” the PM wrote in a letter to CMs. The latest World Bank report also questions the efficacy of national schemes in existence to tackle undernourishment. It says National Nutrition Policy remains on paper; the ICDS suffers a mismatch between intentions and implementation and midday meal scheme is not helping nutrition cause.

The government, however, wants more schemes even after failing to deliver on the eight food security schemes which the SC converted into legal entitlements in 2001, after the People’s Union for Civil Liberties filed a writ, seeking Right to Food as a fundamental right. Commissioners to the SC on food security are yet to speak well of the deliveries of running schemes. That also explains why India’s malnutrition rate (number of underweight children under three years) of 47 per cent in 1999 was down by just 1 per cent in 2006.